Bike sharing companies asked to move excess bikes in a timely manner
Mobike's operation staff help to arrange bikes near Xinhua Hospital on Tuesday morning.
Jiangpu Road Subdistrict asked seven leading bike sharing companies to move excess bikes within a strict time-frame on Tuesday morning as the increasing number of shared bikes blocked sidewalks around Xinhua Hospital, which made pedestrian access to the hospital difficult.
The bike companies include Mobike, ofo and Ming Bike.
Every day during morning rush hour, about 1,000 shared bikes would be ridden to the area by commuters nearby. The Jiangpu Road and Kongjiang Road intersection is one of the busiest areas in the subdistrict, as it is not only close to the famous hospital, but also near Jiangpu Road Station of Line 8.
There are also several commercial and residential buildings nearby.
The authority took about 100 bikes from the intersection on Tuesday morning to ease foot traffic, adding it had already taken away 700 bikes over the past two months.
“The problem is we cannot use trucks to take the bikes away every day, as the loading takes a long time and the truck occupying a lane would also affect traffic during rush hour,” said Zheng Jun, deputy director of the subdistrict, during a meeting with the bike sharing companies’ representatives. “So we hope to work with the bike sharing companies to solve the issue together.”
The subdistrict set up a WeChat group with the bike sharing companies. If there are too many bikes at the intersection, the authority will ask the related companies to respond within 30 minutes and update clear progress within two hours. Local staffers, security guards and police officers will help to monitor the intersection’s situation as well.
The companies said they will cooperate with the authority and collected the detained some 700 bikes.
